A Grateful Clinton Offers Encouragement to Bulgaria

By MARC LACEY

Published: November 23, 1999

SOFIA, Bulgaria, Nov. 22—
President Clinton thanked Bulgaria today for supporting the NATO campaign against Slobodan Milosevic in nearby Yugoslavia and urged the struggling nation to stay the course of economic reform.

More than 10,000 people packed the central square under the glittering Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky -- the same spot where mass rallies 10 years earlier led to the overthrow of the Communist government -- and celebrated the visit with music and fireworks.

''I am very proud to be the first American president to visit Bulgaria -- a free Bulgaria,'' Mr. Clinton told the crowd in a 45-minute speech at dusk. ''I am proud to stand in this place where voices were silenced for too long.''

He arrived late on Sunday, a week into his European tour, which will end with a trip to Kosovo on Tuesday. The visit here was intended to reward Bulgaria for letting NATO planes use its air space in the Kosovo campaign last spring, to offer some encouragement, and to send a message to the Serbs only 30 miles away.

''I am told that during the recent war you could actually hear some of the bombs falling in Serbia from this square,'' Mr. Clinton said. ''Tonight, I hope the people of Serbia can hear our voices when we say if you choose as Bulgaria has chosen, you will regain the rightful place in Europe Mr. Milosevic has stolen from you, and America will support you too.''

The crowd of people -- most of whom were taught at an early age of the evils of America's imperialist ways -- roared with approval and shouted Mr. Clinton's name.

''It used to be dangerous to talk to foreigners,'' said Kiril Manov, 70, a retired lawyer who was bundled up against the chilly evening air. ''We used to learn about the evils of America. Never did we think an American president would stand here.''

During his visit today, Mr. Clinton laid a wreath at a soldiers' memorial, spoke with a small group of college students over a lunch of tabbouleh and skewered chicken, and slipped out to a jazz club with President Petar Stoyanov.

During his visit to Kosovo, his first trip there, Mr. Clinton is to meet military commanders, opposition leaders and American troops, and is expected to urge the Albanians of Kosovo to set aside revenge as they rebuild after the war.

''I think it's very important that Kosovo, in effect, not become the mirror image of Serbia,'' he told the Bulgarians.

During his speech, the president held out the possibility of NATO membership for Bulgaria in the coming years and thanked the nation for allowing the alliance's jets to streak over Sofia during the air campaign in Kosovo. ''You stood with NATO,'' he said. ''I know it was very hard for you to do.''

But most of all, Mr. Clinton's visit was intended to leave a measure of hope to a country still struggling with the difficult transition from dictatorship to democracy.

''I ask you to remember what you left behind,'' he said. ''A police state with no room for disappointment, because there was no hope for improvement. When nobody felt left behind because no one was allowed to get ahead. When there were no dreams and some Bulgarians were even robbed of their very identities, forced to change their names.''

The border with Serbia lies just 30 miles to the east of Sofia, the Bulgaria capital, so close that a handful of NATO bombs that veered off course actually landed here. The sanctions against Yugoslavia, a onetime trading partner, have had a crippling effect on Bulgaria's economy, which already suffered from a steep drop in living standards and high inflation that followed the Soviet era, a period when Bulgaria was one of the most Stalinist of the East Bloc countries.

American support is considered important to the people here, where jobs are difficult to come by, salaries are low, and gray concrete-block architecture stands as a reminder of a Communist system that left little room for initiative. Mr. Clinton arrived without bringing any big offers of aid, but he talked of a continued partnership with Bulgaria.

''Most of the people living here are desperate with the economic situation,'' said Ognyan Minchev, the director of the Institute for Regional and International Studies in Sofia. ''This visit is a sign of hope.''

That is how Snezhana Popova saw it. She stood in the back of the crowd with two tiny flags in her hand, one from the United States and one from Bulgaria. Mr. Clinton's visit, she said, just had to help make things better.

''It's very difficult to get a well-paying job here,'' she said.

The remark that most encouraged her came midway through Mr. Clinton's speech when he talked of plans to encourage more United States companies to do business in Bulgaria.

Bulgaria is making a push for entry into the European Union, which Mr. Clinton said ought to happen one day. In closed meetings with President Stoyanov and Prime Minister Ivan Kostov, he discussed Bulgaria's effort to reduce and modernize its Soviet-era military, among other issues.

As he encouraged Bulgarians to continue their reform efforts, the president reminded them that democracy has been a long road for the United States. He said it has taken America more than two centuries ''to overcome slavery and civil war, depressions and world wars, discrimination against women and ethnic and religious minorities.''

Bulgaria was allied with the Germans in both world wars, but it came to the aid of its Jews when the Nazis sought to send them to concentration camps. Today, the country has a legacy of religious and ethnic tolerance that Mr. Clinton praised.

''We must help all of southeastern Europe choose freedom and tolerance and community,'' he said. ''We must give all the people in this region a unifying magnet that is stronger than the pull of old hatreds that has threatened to tear them apart over and over again.''

Photo: A group of Bulgarian folk singers greeted President Clinton yesterday after his speech in Sofia. Bulgaria has struggled economically since the fall of Communism, and the president asked for perseverance on reforms. (Larry Downing/Reuters) Map of Bulgaria highlighting Sofia: NATO jets flew over Sofia during the bombing campaign in Serbia.